Shadow and Sand
by steinbeckfire
Summary: Shikamaru and Temari pairing in which Temari and Shikamaru find themselves involved in things bigger than themselves.
1. Sand and Shadow

_Authors Note: This is my first fanfiction, so be nice however do not hold back on critiques which are welcome, wanted and demanded._

_Disclaimer: Suitable for all ages: Naruto is property of Masashi Kishimoto who is the rightful owner, I am a humble follower._

**Chapter 1**

Her presence in the village unnerved him. Seemingly, Nara Shikamaru, a chunnin level shinobi of the leaf village, kept composure. His dark thoughtful eyes remained calm even in the most terrifying of situations, making him a valuable strategists and keen analyst. In apparent it seemed, nothing wavered within him as he saw battle after battle, matter after matter, mission after mission. However, her presence was unsettling.

Temari, a sand village shinobi, sister of Gaara the Kazekage, was a jounin, a woman with no womanly tendencies, and as tough and unrelenting as the human sized fan she bore on her back. Her blonde hair hastily tied in two ponytails contrasted her black dress which dropped beyond her knees. Black gloves and a sand forehead protector informed to all the onlookers of her stern presence and her unwavering sense of duty and entitlement of her village. Her duties had spelled her path to the Konoha village, however her heart she left behind in her homeland, at Suna the desert village onlooking the unrelenting Sun. Maybe the terrain, or maybe the hardship and war Suna has experienced had shaped her stern attitude or maybe it was simply self confidence, however in the end the presence of the quiet and thoughtful ambassador of Konoha assigned to her kept her at ease. For some reason, in his presence, she felt welcomed to laugh and joke, which seemed to make Shikamaru even more unsettled. The frown on his forehead would deepen as he tried to understand his own unsettlement, wishing he could just finish his duty so he could once again traverse back to a silent and contemplative place, where his thoughts would wander from meaningless to less meaningless.

"I agree."

"Are you even listening, that's been your reply for the past five minutes."

Temari whirled around to face her guide, as they made their way on the busy town street. Their steps had brought them in front of an empty diner and only a clerk could be seen sweeping the lonely floor.

"Why don't we stop for some tea and lunch, we've had a busy day?" Shikamaru turned towards the diner, rubbed the back of his head and walked in.

After heaving a huge sigh, Temari turned and followed him and sat in the small dusty table he chose.

"One tea and my companion will have your special." Temari shifter her glance from the waiter to see shikamaru's reaction as she placed his order, but found no reaction in his features except his usual detached eyes. The young clerk bowed his bare head, wiped his hands on his dirty apron nervously and walked behind the bar to prepare the food and beverage.

Shikamaru fleetingly considered his duty and her presence, then his mind wandered to his other duties and then to the deer in his clan's woods, to his teammates of whose whereabouts he briefly wondered and then to the clerk he saw working feverishly preparing his meal, who looked young yet acted as if he had aged a thousand years. What had happened to him for him to accelerate his growth, what was his story? He let his thoughts wander until he caught sight of Temari eyeing him.

"What's on your mind?"

"Really, you invite me to lunch and don't even try to start a decent conversation and that's how you start?"

"No I mean…" Shikamaru fumbled in his pocket to occupy his nervous hands"…I mean why so curt all the time."

"Ah I see you are trying to analyze me, maybe understand me and devise a plan, or strategy, trust me we are both not suited for this." Temari started to push her chair out and started to strap her fan onto her shoulder.

"Suited…who cares, why don't we just ignore it…I mean..you know."

"Hmm…you really don't understand do you..with all your insight and intelligence." And with this Temari left banging the door heavily behind her.

Shikamaru fiddled with his thumb until he took out a lighter and clicked it on and off. Considering, to find somewhere deserted where he can ignore the hustle of the world, he remembered he had a meeting to attend. He sat up, left the exact change of lunch and tea on the table and headed out.

Temari walked briskly to her inn, her thoughts wavering from her relentless shadow, to her brothers and the obvious political involvement of her family intertwined in the ninja world. Her steps took their own accord and conducted her inside the inn, out of the gloomy day, as rain pellets the size of dimes commenced to drop heavily onto the clean village street. She moved as a ghost and with obvious routine; bathroom, shower, change, brush, read, look out the window and bed. As she slowly drifted and felt her eyes droop from the weariness of the day, her mind wandered back to her guide, his shadowy figure hovering in front, his smile and his detached persona and for a moment she smiled and considered if she had been too harsh. Then sleep drifted in and took her thoughts away.

Shikamaru shifted his gaze towards the cloudy sky, his expression hidden under the lack of sun. He considered going inside and apologizing for his lack of presence, his discontent with his surroundings, his chronic laziness but found himself unable to muster the energy to carry out his intentions. Again the thought of the meeting broke in, and his heart did a cartwheel as he remembered that his tardiness would go noticed by the watchful eyes of the hokage. With nimble steps, he launched himself at incredible speed towards the looming hokage monument and the office underneath; he plummeted from rooftop to rooftop.

"You're late, again."

Tsunade was livid as Shikamaru entered the room, with his unflinching eyes and lack of emotions evident behind his eyes.

"Sorry, I was tending to other duties."

"Whatever, we have a situation seeing there is movement from Mist ninja as they have seen traversing in our Land. Their motives are unclear and their presence was definitely supposed to have been hidden, however one of our squad had the opportunity to run into them. I need you take a team of three there and figure out the situation. The squad that came into contact had a skirmish and thus they have retreated making the situation to hang between war. If we have to come to that end, war might erupt between our villages, however that end must be avoided at all cost. Ill also assign Kakashi as your taichou as soon as he is out of the hospital, however I doubt if the Mist ninja will reveal their true purpose so I'll need you to take a Aburame on your squ…..are you listening?"

Shikamaru shifted his gaze from the cloud he had been tracking seen through the office of the hokage's office.

"Yes, Mist ninja, war, Kakashi, Shino so we can track the ninja to find out their objective."

"Sometimes it would be better to see some reaction to the words I'm saying, now go, and be careful, the mission's dangerous so be careful."

"Hai, understood."


	2. Sun and Song

_Authors Note: This is my first fanfiction, so be nice however do not hold back on critiques which are welcome, wanted and demanded._

_Disclaimer: Suitable for all ages: Naruto is property of Masashi Kishimoto who is the rightful owner, I am a humble follower._

**Chapter 2**

Knock, Knock

"One moment."

Temari hesitated as she flung open the door, believing to face her companion from yesterday. However from the shadow emerged a pink haired girl about three years younger than her, with black stockings covering her knee and black gloves that were kept tightly wound around her hands, indicating the medic residing within her. Battle it seemed to be the ninja's agenda as the kunai ready pouched hung loosely from her belt and her red shirt showed signs of tear evident in the smudged O proudly displayed on her back.

Sakura saw a fleeting look of disappointment in the Sand ninja's face but it disappeared as fast as it had appeared. The afterglow of the image lingered in her mind but she quickly put it aside.

"I'm sorry Temari-san but Shikamaru was sent out to a mission. I shall be your guide of the day and lead you to all our meetings on the agenda."

"Thank you Sakura, why don't you come inside while I prepare my things."

Temari saw the proud Konoha sunlight hide behind a cloud outside her window and she wondered whether it was the sun that hide from her.

Shikamaru gazed at the window, and then the approaching footsteps snapped him out of his thoughts.

Its time, shikamaru.

Hai, Kakashi-senpai

Three ninjas left the village, one hidden under a green robe, another one-eyed ninja, and a third ninja of the shadow.


	3. Storm and Sorrow

_Authors Note: This is my first fanfiction, so be nice however do not hold back on critiques which are welcome, wanted and demanded._

_Disclaimer: Suitable for all ages: Naruto is property of Masashi Kishimoto who is the rightful owner, I am a humble follower._

**Chapter 3**

Yamanaka Ino bent low over her comrade who lay silently on a makeshift bed. Her brow tightened, and sweat was evident on her forehead, as she concentrated her chakra onto the wounds. Slowly, the wounds closed and bleeding lessened and lessened ever so slowly. Finally finished, she stood up and immediately had to sit down as a wave of vertigo engulfed her.

"Don't overdo it Ino-san."

A jounin with a green leaf flak jacket sat cross-legged beside her reading maps. The distant candle flickered, forcing the jounin to draw his eyes closer in order to study the terrain better.

"I wonder where the reinforcements are; we need to go back to the village as soon as possible otherwise…."

"Ino-san they are on their way, Lee is a tough ninja of the leaf, he won't die in a place like this."

Tears welled up in Ino's eyes as she brushed them off quickly. Her mind wandered to her rival and wondered if she would have acted stronger in her position.

Sakura walked beside the silent Kunoichi and wondered where they were to next, her feet sore from all the walking begged her to stop and relinquish them of the anguish. Yet, Temari continued on with her task with continued vigor and continuously flashed Sakura an annoyed glances because of her slow pace.

"Temari-san would you like to stop and have some lunch before our next appointment. "

"Hmm…we still have some time before our next engagement, so why not."

"Great I know of this great Ramen place."

"Really Konoha's Ramen…."

"Two bowls of your finest Ramen, old man. Oh, hi Naruto, it sure isn't a surprise to see you here."

The blond ninja, whirled in his seat, as he saw two kunoichis enter and take the seats beside him. His black and orange jacket, already stained with ramen and dirt, spelled out his lack of personal hygiene.

"Oi, Sakura-chan and you…you…Sand ninja."

"This "you" has a name Naruto, be polite."

Temari couldn't help but smirk at the blue-eyed ninja, and his incredulous grin. The whirling blonde hair and all was unmistakably displayed by the number one surprise ninja as he kept up grinning his silly grin from ear to ear.

"Chunnin exams again? Where is Shikamaru, I thought he was in charge of it too?"

Taken slightly aback by Shikamaru's name being mentioned, Temari quickly composed herself.

"He was assigned to a mission that took him out of Konoha. "

"A mission! Why was I not assigned to it."

"Because last I remember, you are supposed to be in the hospital treating your wounds."

"Sakura-chan… I want a mission already, its been too long."

"Shut your mouth Naruto, maybe if you don't keep on failing on your missions, the hokage-sama would assign you one."

"Sakura-chan….."

"Hmph…."

Temari couldn't help smile at the brainless, yet at ease ninja as he slurped up the last of his ramen. She though back to the good looking ex-teammate, and wondered how they felt upon his desertion. The feeling of losing someone close to you was all too familiar to her, but he wasn't dead. She gazed at the shadows cast by the sun around the shop and let herself slip a hint of a warm smile.

Shikamaru looked down at the evidently shaken Ino and the silently sleeping ninja.

"Its best you guys head out as soon as possible, we'll take over."

Kakashi peered down at Lee and his eyes wandered over his well taken care off wounds. There seemed to be many off them.

"Gai, the mist ninja attacked you when you saw them, but why didn't they kill you."

"It seemed that they decided to retreat when they realized they couldn't. But Kakashi be careful, two of them didn't even fight before they retreated up that cliff. I believe they are still here and they are in the midst of an ongoing mission, which involves leaf village somehow."

"Hmm…"

The white haired ninja sat on the floor and pondered on the information given to him. His eye, transfixed on a spot on the ground, showed signs of weariness. He adjusted his forehead protector to cover his sharingan eye and proceeded to withdraw a scroll from one of the pockets of his Konoha flak jacket. Quickly drawing a brush he strove to stroke a message to the hokage.

"Doton Tsuiga no Jutsu."

A small brown pug appeared with a sad expression, in a burst of white smoke.

"Kakashi."

"Pakkun, take this scroll to hokage-sama, quickly, be careful, there might be hostile ninja around."

"Understood."

The pug took the scroll in his mouth, and sprinted out the door, his blue leaf forehead protector disappearing out of view.

Gai proceeded to take Lee on his back and Ino picked up her bag, starting to head out.

"Kakashi, I understand you will be careful, and don't forget our competition is on as soon as you get back."

Gai gave a hearty laugh and stuck his thumb out, with that the two ninjas started sprinting towards Konoha, a gust of wind pushing them to safety.


	4. Stalk and Surprise

**Chapter 4**

The moonlight drew various shadows in the ambassador's room, as she sat on a leathery couch massaging her feet. The day had been tiresome, lengthy and cumbersome, dispersed with random meetings, polite gestures, and more meetings. Temari dismissed the gloom that had seeped through the moonlit window and lead her thoughts to her village, for which she contemplated finishing early so she could head back and forget this tiresome and lonesome village. Eventually, the kunoichi stood up to open a light, but catching sight of the dancing shadows on her wall proceeded not to.

A little brown shed sat beyond the edge of woods on-looking a cliff, drenched due to the late-night showers. A single candlelight could be seen through the dainty little window through which a young man stood staring out at the musty colored sky. No expression could be detected on his shadow covered face, and his eyes only spelled age that they did not have. His black hair tied in a tight ponytail stood drenched through his green flak jacket collar. He slowly stirred and advanced towards the door as if beckoned by a command and indeed, Kakashi and Shino had already started heading out.

The three ninjas started their quick descent up the cliff, concentrating their chakra at the bottom of their feet so they could scale the cliff side with ease. Once they clambered over the edge, the hooded shinobi waved his arms and black colored bugs seeped out his sleeves and spread in multitude of directions.

"I have located them, Kakashi-sensei."

"Good, let's go."

Now Kakashi took the lead, the other two fell in behind him, and the three Konoha shinobis sprinted towards their mission.

Temari strapped her fan on her back, adjusted her forehead protector and headed out. The village, damp due to last night's showers, was heavily laden with early morning dew in which a tired Sakura waited for the Sand shinobi.

"Sakura lead me to hokage-sama's office, I shall return home as soon as I bid her farewell."

"But Temari-san the preparations…."

"I have seen that they will be taken care of in my absence."

"H-Hai, understood."

Three Mist ninjas sat around a fire, with a makeshift shelter covering their heads when two Konoha ninjas, one white haired and the other hooded, stepped out. The three Mist ninjas sprang into action. One drew a kunai, another a shuriken and the third withdrew a scroll, however suddenly they found themselves frozen, as if they had been paralyzed. In slow concessions, they noticed the overtly long shadow stretching from the haze of trees and touching their own.

"Kagemane no Jutsu, successful."

Shikamaru, doned with a green flak jacket stepped out of the bushes with his hands forming a seal.

"Too bad you got distracted by my comrades and didn't notice my shadow."

"What the hell do you guys want?"

"If you would believe it, we just want to talk."

Kakashi took a step forward, letting his eyes wander through their camp.

"Could I ask what you three are doing in the Land of Fire, and attacking Leaf ninja."

"As if we would ever betray our village."

"Have it your way."

In a blink of an eye, Kakashi rammed the nearest mist ninja through the heart with a kunai. And just as suddenly the ninja seemingly turned into water and spilled on the ground. Following suit, the other two ninjas also turned into water.

"You just attacked ninjas from another village, is war what you are looking for."

The same three Mist ninjas stepped out of the trees to face the shinobis from Konoha.

"As I recall, you are the ones to attack us first."

"For that we are now even. We are here on a mission, and we mistakenly took shinobis from your village to be the three targets we are hunting down. War is not something Kiri is intending with Konoha. We will leave at once before our sides clash again in order to avert a major war."

Kakashi, with the one eye exposed, breathed a sigh and glanced at Shino, who in turn nodded.

"Who are your targets? If they are in the land of fire, we could help you capture them."

"Unfortunately that is not possible, that information is only for Mist ninja. We shall take our leave now and go beyond the land of fire's borders, and next time you attack us, we shall take it as a declaration of war. And besides now you know that we could have attacked you earlier since you managed to trip our hidden trap and announced your arrival."

The three blue-clad ninjas clasped their hands together, and disappeared in a watery flicker. With the enemy gone, the Konoha village let down their guard and turned to head to their base.

"They previously had five members in their squad; you could see five people were in the camp."

"I saw that Shikamaru, Shino quickly spread out your bug radius and see if you can locate the two missing ninja."

"Hai."

The sun obtained its highest position in the sky, when Temari noticed that she was almost at the border. She had been running all day, getting further away from Konoha and its shadow and so halted upon the path to open some rice cakes so she could replenish her energy. The calm day displayed signs of tranquility, with blue sky and hardly any clouds. Through the sleeping forest, two shuriken flew, blending with surrounding and approaching their target inconspicuously. They emerged from the thicket and slammed in Temari's back. Her expression changed from contemplative to shock and slowly she fell to her knees, then her face.


	5. Simple and Straight

_Authors Note: Sorry for the long time in the update. Read, enjoy comment and critique please! Pretty Please! (always looking to improve you know)_

_Disclaimer: Suitable for all ages: Naruto is property of Masashi Kishimoto who is the rightful owner, I am a humble follower._

**Chapter 5**

"Is it possible the other two shinobis had a specific mission, and the other three are simply escorts?"

Shikamaru contemplated leaning back against the wall of the brown shed with his hands folded. The mid-day afternoon danced all around the two leaf shinobis as the enjoyed the warmth of the sunlight.

"I agree, but we still don't know their mission or what they look like, nonetheless it was a good idea letting those three go, this way we can track them and figure out their intentions."

The one-eyed shinobi lazily flipped the page of his next novel, barely looking up.

"That way we could avoid immediate war, and hope they attacked us on accident rather than other presumed reasons."

Through the thicket, another shinobi, with dark sunglasses and a green hood flickered into view.

"Kakashi-sensei, I tracked the other two Mist ninjas, they were heading to Konoha, but they changed their course…now they are apparently heading towards Suna."

Kakashi, in light of the new information, pocketed his book.

"So five Mist ninjas enter the land of Fire, attack three leaf shiniobis, however rather than killing them, they retreat. Three of them station themselves here, and two seemingly head towards Konoha, but change their course and are now due straight west."

"Hai…Kakashi-sensei…"

A cloud blocked the comforting sun, and a long drawn shadow fell onto the shed and on the clearing within the trees. Shikamaru lowered his gaze from the encroaching cloud as a new gusty wind shifted its weight to drive the dance of the sun away.

"Is it…is it possible…"

Temari's body dispelled into sand as the shuriken struck while she was situated a safe distance away, hoping to spot her assailants before their next move. The forest though ignored this intrusion and resumed to maintain its serenity. The wind slowly whistled through the trees, causing leaves to lazily drift to the ground. A weasel poked his head out his burrow and catching sight of the resting brown eagle, dashed back. Silence lay, blending in with the chirping of nearby crickets.

"If you won't come out, then I'll make you…Ninpou Kamaitachi"

Temari, atop a branch, slashed her wide open fan and a sickle gust of wind slashed through the disturbed forest. Trees flew in arcs and were chopped to pieces, as the wind roared and the ground shook. Through the haze and confusion, two green clad shinobis leaped out and dodged the cutting wind. Slowly the wind calmed and only destruction lay in its wake, as the two green flak jacket shinobis stood among the ruble facing upward to the gapping Temari.

"W-What's going on?"

"Sand ambassador, on the orders of the Fifth Hokage, we are here to arrest you and bring you back to Konoha."

Shikamaru flickered from branch to branch, his thoughts wavering from worry to anger to fear, his eyes bent on the goal as he quickened his pace. Shino glanced at the speeding shadow ninja, trying to keep step.

"She is a powerful shinobi…Shikamaru-kun…"

"But these two Mist ninja came just to capture or kill her, which means they are specialist."

"We don't know whether they were sent for that purpose."

"Doesn't it make sense though? Five ninjas are heading towards Konoha, they attack ninjas that cross their path, mistaking Ino for their target, they attack but once they notice their mistake, they fall back and send the two specialists onward. The three ninjas fall back and maintain their position, waiting for Konoha shinobis to come so they can meet us and tell us their purpose. This way, they told us Konoha their purpose truthfully, thus not igniting war immediately, but they want to ignite war only with Suna at once. This way they capture or kill the sand ambassador, causing the blame to fall on Konoha, tension between Konoha and Suna develop and Suna is left alone to fight against."

"I see that's why you want to protect the ambassador…Shikamaru-kun…"

Shikamaru heard the bug ninjan's comment, but chose to ignore it and instead picked up his pace. He wondered if she had already been ambushed, if Ino and Lee had gotten back to Konoha safe, if it was wise to leave Kakashi alone by the three enemies, and if he made the right choice to blend in the shadows rather than play on the sand.


	6. Sprint and Smart

**Swim and Smart Chapter 6**

A weasel pounced from log to log, scavenging for food and other oddities, when his path came across a clearing in the forest that wasn't there the previous day. He poked his nose through a bush, and smelled other animals dashing back and forth, suddenly, a gust of wind caught him in his face and he was thrown back. The astounded weasel at once turned back, to follow his shadow back to its safety.

Shikamaru tripped due to his exhaustion, but was at once caught by Shino before he could hit the ground. Stopping on a deer path in the forest to catch their breath, a sudden flock of birds flying away, caught the two leaf ninja's sight, and as if through silent communication, both shinobis started sprinting.

Temari had been trained for extreme situations; she dodged the kunai and shuriken flying at her from the two shinobis facing her, she jumped on a branch and retaliated with a gust of wind from her fan, she threw some shuriken in the mix of the wind to catch her opponents while they were dodging her attack, but whatever she did it seemed that her efforts were futile. Out of breath, both parties stopped to wind their chakra again in order to attack.

"If you are going to arrest me, why did you attack first?"

"We knew you were a dangerous shinobi, we wanted to wound you before we took you back to Konoha."

"And you are not going to tell me the reason of my arrest."

"No, except that the hokage-sama wants you back immediately."

"In that case, Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Kiri-Kiri Mai" From the trail of blood traced on Temari's fan, appeared a sickle weasel holding a dagger. The weasel leaped up and blended with the protruding wind, and a slashing wind enveloped the area. Trees were cut down under the brute force of the wind.

"Hakke Shou Kaiten"

A whirl of chakra blue deflected the flying debris and slashing wind as one ninja crouched under the other ninja who spun like a top protecting both. The astonished Temari stopped dead in her tracks, as the shadow of the other ninja elongated towards her, trying to capture her. In her shock to see Konoha jutsu's used, her shadow was captured and her body was frozen stiff.

"Hmm…you dropped your guard."

"You…"

"Yes, we are Konoha ninja's not other ninjas using transformation jutsu, so now we will head back to Konoha, Hyuuga knock her out."

"Hai."

As the leaf ninja approached Temari, she winked a smile and the world melted and broke into many pieces. Temari was hiding behind a tree, and reached up and opened her un-used fan to face the mist ninjas who had betrayed their location and were now standing on the path looking up at her.

"How long ago did you figure it out?"

"From the beginning, and the reason was simple, Konoha ninjas travel in three or four man squads. Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Kiri-Kiri Mai." Again the sickle weasel with a dagger appeared in a puff of white smoke and blew a torrential wind that sliced the forest into pieces. The two blue clad shinobis saw the oncoming tornado and started immediate retreat, jumping from branch to branch. The disappeared into the midst of the tornado and its flying debris.

Temari fell to her knees, coughing due to the huge amount of chakra she needed in order to dispel this particularly powerful genjutsu. Her flickering eyes caught to moving objects, but her exhausted body went limp.


	7. Star and Shower

**Chapter 7**

The smell of a fresh meal, wafted towards a sleeping kunoichi as she jolted awake, expecting to be huddled in a prison cell. However two concerned eyes peered back at her coming from the shadow ninja who sat cross-legged at the bottom of her bedding. Temari pushed aside her faint blush and looked around to see a camp fire flickering beside their camp, surrounded by silent trees. The clear sky and the dark night provided their camp deep security and an abode of shelter.

"Looks like you killed one of them, but the other disappeared."

"How did you find me?"

"That was the easy part we followed those two's trail until we were knocked down because of the wind."

"We?"

"Shino is here too, he's looking for the other one, and Kakashi is with us, but we left him at the border." Shikamaru got up, and sauntered over to the fire, to pour out some boiling broth. The distant sound of a night owl sent an unknown shiver down his spine; he brushed the effect off and brought over the broth to Temari.

"You left early…"

"You took another mission."

The silence between the leaf and sand shinobi rose up with the smoke from the camp fire. Suddenly clouds started to gather in the previous clear sky and rain began to pour in heavy pellets, but maintained a slow rhythm, not speeding up more than a light drizzle.

Shino appeared beside the squatting Shikamaru who was observing the camp fire as if it promised answers.

"The rain was induced by the retreating Mist ninja to throw me off the trail, but his destination is known. I have sent messenger bugs to Kakashi-sensei so he can cut him off. I will back him up immediately; you should go to Konoha and have reinforcements sent." With that the bug ninja nodded to Temari and flickered off in a haze of bugs.

"I'm going to continue on."

"No, you need rest and you are in danger, we don't know whether there is another squad on your trail." Shikamaru emptied his water container in the flickering fire, until only smothering ash remained.

"Shikamaru…I think Konoha…might have..."

"I know but war has begun so who ever it is, they won't do anything. Their mission is over."

Temari looked up at the shadow ninja packing his things, and remained silent, slightly taken aback with his sudden ferociousness. She let herself smile as she shakily stood up using her fan for support. Shikamaru rapped up the bedding and took her arm, with a tingle, around his shoulder and both ninjas leaped on the nearest branch to make their way to Konoha. The moonlight shone at their back, as the two intertwined beings sprinted towards the warmth of protection.


	8. Sting and Saunter

**Chapter 8**

"What…? Shizune gather three squads and send them to reinforce Kakashi immediately, also tell them to fortify the area. Sakura go tend to Temari at once. Shikamaru I need you to go to your father and tell him to summon all the jounin in the meeting room. Now go, this is an emergency on a whole village scale, we must first ensure the village's security and preparations need to be made." Shizune, Sakura and Tsunade ran out the door in three different directions, leaving Shikamaru all alone in the hokage's office. He heaved a sigh, bent his head low, and embarked upon his slow walk to his house. The slow rising sun unabated by the previous day's events poked its nose of the horizon, spreading its sunshine to all without regard. The night's shadows reclined as the daylight brought them into a different light.

Shikamaru slowly placed his words to his father, who reacted as a commander of the jounin would, he slowly heard Shikamaru's words, finished his tea, kissed his worried wife, patted his son on the back, and ran out the door. Shikamaru's mother reacted as a wife of a commander of the jounin would, she reprimanded Shikamaru and told him to shower, prepared a meal for him, put her green flak jacket on and ran out the door.

Temari saw the drone of voices out her window, as it seemed the leafy village of Konoha, sleeping on green canopies had suddenly woken up. People bustled here and there, it seemed, ninjas were suddenly pouring out on the streets. As apparent preparations were being done so she let her mind wander to her village, and the many preparations that were probably being done, her two brothers as they probably worried over her absence. War. The word itself seemed a term used to describe the past, an action left behind by today's Shinobis. She understood, in her battle ready world, war was a likely outcome, or even inevitable, but its sudden breach seemed to make it seem unthinkable, ungraspable. As Temari struggled with this concept, the elongations of shadows in her room indicated the passing of time and the slow sauntering approaching steps to her hospital room announced the arrival of a visitor.

Shikamaru peeked through the door to see a white gowned Temari sitting up on a hospital bed looking out the window. The clean white hospital room betrayed the cleanliness and a smell of alcohol. He walked through the door and sat down on a chair next to her bed.

"You smell like deer." Temari grinned as she let her eyes wander over the shadow ninja, who had taken off his green flak jacket in place for a simple T-shirt.

"Hmm…you seem to be doing better." Shikamaru folded his arms and let himself sink into the comfort of the chair.

"It seems war is upon us."

"So it seems."

The shadow and sand shinobis contemplated the meaning of this and deciding to not waste their time decided to think of other things.

"I understand."

Shikamaru astounded by the misplacement of the words spoken by Temari decided not to pursue the meaning behind her ill placed sentence.

"I understand that you see things differently, but you need to be able to relate with others."

"I don't think you completely understa-"

"I do, or I want to, but you usually are so detached with your emotions that you cannot understand other people and their emotions, and it doesn't help when mine are so subtle."

Temari flashed a half smile to Shikamaru, the tears around her eyes now pouring out onto her lap. The tough desert bred shinobi, let her guard down, wetting the sand within her. Slowly, the shadow of the shadow shinobi reclined, as he let himself out to see daylight and all its content. He slowly reached up and brushed a tear off the face of the Kunoichi….

_Epilogue_

_War, a word the shinobi world hadn't uttered in decades. It has now stepped in, bringing out old alliances, recent rivalries, threatening to break families, and to form another link in the chain of world events. _

_Author's Notes:_

_This story will continue as I write other stories this time with different main protagonist. Read and review my other stories to see what happens next!_


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